Abstract
This research examined the process of Nishikawa Mitsuru’s transformation from a master in aesthetic and romantic literature in Taiwan before the war, to a writer of popular literature in Japan after his repatriation and the war. Nishikawa came to Taiwan with his parents at the age of two; he grew up in Taiwan and was considered as a Taiwan-born Japanese in a broad sense. Under the influence of French literature and his kind teacher Yoshie Takamatsu, Nishikawa came back to establish the Southern literature in Taiwan, and later became one of the leaders in the community of Taiwanese literature near the end of the era of Japanese colonialism. With his aesthetic and romantic writing styles, Nishikawa had his own journal columns and magazines, which preserved the originality of his work from the limitations of public interests. After Japan lost the war, Nishikawa was repatriated to Japan. He lost the socioeconomic status and assets that he had in Taiwan, and lived in predicament as he moved into a refugee shelter. In order to make a living, Nishikawa no longer insisted in literary aesthetics; instead he wrote many novels to meet the interests of general readers, while he also made submissions to public business magazines actively. Many of Nishikawa’s works written after the war were related to Taiwan, as he based them on the cultural capitals that he accumulated from his experience in Taiwan. Additionally, he also wrote about the miserable lives of war refugees in Japan, from his experience as a repatriate. One example of such work by him was “At the Bottom of Hell”, which was nominated for the Naoki Prize. Focusing on the experiences of growing up in homeland Taiwan by repatriates who returned to Japan, these works are worthy of public attention and should not be buried in history.